Minimally invasive surgeries, for example, laparoscopy, arthroscopy, thoracoscopy, etc., are being increasingly performed for reducing trauma to a patient's tissues, lessening scarring, minimizing post-surgical pain, reducing blood loss, reducing a risk of infection, and allowing a quick recovery of the patient. During a minimally invasive surgery, a surgeon makes small incisions of, for example, a few millimeters through the skin of the patient instead of making one large opening in the patient's body as performed in conventional open surgery. A conventional surgical visualization system used during a minimally invasive surgery comprises a camera head, an external control unit, and a monitor for visualizing a surgical site. A surgeon passes an elongated thin tube with a camera attached at a proximal end of a scope device, for example, a laparoscope through one of the incisions, and passes other instruments that facilitate in performing the minimally invasive surgery, through the other incisions. The camera captures images, for example, still images, videos, etc., of the surgical site. The external control unit receives and processes image signals from the camera and projects an image, for example, a still image or a moving image such as a video of the surgical site onto the monitor in an operating room to provide the surgeon a clear and magnified view of the surgical site. The surgeon may use hardware controls of the external control unit for setting image parameters such as brightness, saturation, contrast, etc., related to the captured image and for controlling other aspects of the captured image.
The conventional surgical visualization system comprising the camera head, the external control unit, and the monitor is a bulky system of separate devices, typically spaced apart, for capturing and displaying images of a surgical site during a minimally invasive surgery. To modify the image parameters, a user, for example, the surgeon must locate the hardware controls such as buttons on the external control unit and operate the buttons continuously, while simultaneously visualizing the captured images in real time on the monitor. Modifying the image parameters of the captured images in real time during the minimally invasive surgery may distract the surgeon performing the minimally invasive surgery as the surgeon has to simultaneously manage different devices that are spaced apart. A real time review of the captured images is not supported by the conventional surgical visualization system. An external media viewer or an external computing device, for example, a laptop or a tablet computer, is typically connected to the conventional surgical visualization system to allow the surgeon to review the captured images of the surgical site. Moreover, conventional surgical visualization systems typically capture low resolution images that are difficult to view and interpret optimally. Furthermore, the conventional surgical visualization system requires a separate recording system for capturing and recording the images, which may result in mishandling and identification of patient information.
The surgeon who performs the minimally invasive surgery must have access to patient information comprising, for example, the patient's name, age, gender, a patient identifier, medical history, information on the minimally invasive surgery to be performed, etc., prior to, during, after, and at any instance of the minimally invasive surgery. Access to the patient information allows the surgeon to plan the minimally invasive surgery carefully and to react to the on-going surgical procedure, thereby increasing success of the minimally invasive surgery. In contrast, in conventional surgical visualization systems, for example, a hospital may maintain a handwritten document or an electronic document of the patient information, which needs to be transmitted to the surgeon for access prior to, during, after, and at any instance of the minimally invasive surgery. Handling the handwritten document containing the patient information and visualizing the images of the surgical site captured by the conventional surgical visualization system in real time during the minimally invasive surgery, or viewing the electronic document containing the patient information on an external media player, for example, on a laptop or a tablet computer, and visualizing the captured images of the surgical site in real time during the minimally invasive surgery, can be cumbersome and obstructive for the surgeon, thereby creating a less than optimal situation for performing the minimally invasive surgery.
The images of the surgical site captured by the conventional surgical visualization system are typically stored within the conventional surgical visualization system and can be reviewed using an external media viewer. Physical accessibility to the conventional surgical visualization system is required to allow the surgeon to review the captured images of the surgical site. A technical glitch in the conventional surgical visualization system can corrupt data stored in the conventional surgical visualization system or may provide access of the captured images to unauthorized individuals. Manual transfer of the captured images of the surgical site to another device poses a risk of mishandling and manipulation of the captured images.
Hence, there is a long felt need for a method and a surgical visualization and recording system comprising embedded image capture, recording, control, and display components for capturing, communicating, recording, and displaying images of a surgical site with up to a 4K ultrahigh definition (UHD) resolution of 3840 pixels×2160 lines in association with patient information in real time during a surgery, for example, a minimally invasive surgery. Moreover, there is a need for a method and a surgical visualization and recording system comprising an integrated visualization interface for accepting user inputs for modifying image parameters of the captured images of the surgical site without an external control unit, and for allowing a user, for example, a surgeon to review the captured images with up to a 4K UHD resolution along with the patient information without an external media viewer or an external computing device, for example, a laptop or a tablet computer, during and after the surgery. Furthermore, there is a need for a method and a surgical visualization and recording system for accepting user inputs for entering additional patient information in an integrated visualization interface and associating the patient information with the captured images in real time to reduce paperwork required to associate the captured images to a patient. Furthermore, there is a need for a method and a surgical visualization and recording system for allowing a user, for example, a surgeon to record 4K UHD resolution images directly to a storage device, for example, a flash drive, a hard drive, or a network drive on a secure hospital network to preclude unauthorized staff from handling the captured images along with the patient information and to maintain confidentiality of the patient information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Furthermore, there is a need for a method and a surgical visualization and recording system for automatically and securely transmitting the captured images of the surgical site for direct and secure storage on an external system and/or in a cloud computing environment over a network, for example, an internal hospital network in real time.